Zombies are sloppy, the woman in the car twitched so sluggishly that you can see how the actress was ashamed to play this ridiculous role. The "carrot before the donkey" trick wouldn't work on zombies - he would walk in circles rather than walking in the right direction. At the end, the three look at the child point-blank and don't see - yes, I understand the child was under the father's body, but how long would it take you to notice a huge moving backpack? Two seconds, that's how much. But a sniper capable of hitting a zombie in the head the first time would have seen the baby before the shot. There's not even a minimal plot. A trick for sentimental people with an undeveloped sense of taste.
A treasure for which one must live and sacrifice oneself
How many movies do you watch and never stop wondering? Someone can make a very good movie, and someone on the same topic manages to put pitch horror. There are countless examples of this, and they apply to both full and short films.
Australian seven-minute film from directors Ben Howling and Yolande Ramke tells the story of two people left completely alone in a world suddenly engulfed by a zombie virus devouring everything and everything in its path. A father (he doesn’t have a name, he’s just a father) tries to save his daughter by wading through rough terrain.
No matter how harsh the comparison of a baby with some cargo sounds, as evidenced by the name, the Daughter is its main treasure, the most valuable cargo that can only be imagined. She doesn’t realize that chaos and madness are happening, but the Father knows that he has too little time to save her.
It is impossible to watch these seven minutes of the film without goosebumps, because when you see how a person loses his mind, turning into a primitive beast, but at the same time continues to pursue his goal and does everything to give life to someone who was born recently.
Cargo is a movie without words that doesn’t need words. Everything is clear here without them. The despair recited in the Father’s eyes, mixed with the determination to reach the saving oasis and find people, the silent glances of the trinity at the end and their gestures addressed to each other – these moments rather subtly emphasize that in such a critical situation that has fallen on the world, everything is clear from one glance.
This mini-film catches and does not leave indifferent. It causes compassion and regret, and at the same time gives hope for life.
But look at you. I do not impose my opinion on anyone.
Very high-quality and clinging to a living thing. It's amazing how in just seven minutes you can tell a story that touches so much. Most full-length jobs fail to achieve this. I really liked the direction. There are good angles with competent editing, and proper use of music. The atmosphere of the film is gloomy and with a shade of sadness, but it does not plunge into depression as it is not strange. Special effects, of which there are not many, also do not cause questions - they are very high-quality and are in their place.
The actors play great, but in some places there is a feeling that they almost fall short of the bar raised by the director. Naturally, the characters, to put it mildly, superficial, but in this story and did not require any great study of characters. The picture also makes sense, but it is elementary. You can note some oddities and strains in the script, plus the director sometimes gives a few typical tricks.
Another very interesting detail. If you look at this film, it becomes very noticeable play on the emotions of the viewer, an attempt to manipulate and squeeze a tear. We won’t go into details, but using a child in danger is a pretty cheap move. This technique, as a rule, works faultlessly, and applying it means cheating. Think about it: everyone except the most callous people will immediately worry about an innocent child. On the other hand, isn’t any work of art an attempt to manipulate the emotions of the viewer/reader/listener? In any case, the author tries to achieve certain emotions. In the case of the painting “Cargo”, these manipulations, alas, are quite obvious.
Outcome: I was a bit rattled in the previous paragraph, but that’s so not to overstate the overall great thing. The whole crew worked hard to prepare a rather touching and very high-quality seven-minute action. It may not be a masterpiece, but the film definitely deserves attention. Enjoy your visit.
The tiny blonde girl is no more than a year old, and she still doesn’t understand anything in life. Eyes-beads fearfully look at a bloodied man, it is difficult to recognize his father. And mom's gone, she's not gonna pin her head down and sing a lullaby. Only the father left, who writes some notes on his hand and puts the child in a bag for carrying. The child does not realize that there is a long way ahead, and the parent affected by the deadly virus does not have long. The end is approaching, the terrible end, he turns a man into a stinking creature, which spews out inarticulate howls, recognizes no one and is known only by insatiable hunger. The little angel wants to wish never to know what kind of attack her mother buried and is about to bury her father. Salvation is the only thing that matters, and for his sake the doomed father begins his last campaign.
The black marker put a dry inscription on the man's hand about three hours, and the duo of directors from the Green Continent has much less time - only seven minutes, but during this time Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke wrote a concise story about the courage and strength of the spirit of a doomed man. In the rational world, people like to evaluate everything and find definitions, and in such conditions love is almost the only essence in nature that cannot be conveyed in words. When the sand of life rapidly flows away, a person willy-nilly seeks to make the last act. Slowly wandering through the thicket of the forest, the shaking man is a barely living embodiment of the importance of this action. Behind the scenes remains the scale of the disaster, there is no information about the number of victims of the virus, it is unclear whether anyone will be able to take care of the future orphan. All these features are equated by the creators to a bag of meat and giblets. There is only love and the desire to save the life of the most precious creature, and what will happen next is secondary.
Since the time of George Romero, it is difficult to imagine any other canon in the depiction of the living dead. Australian directors do not produce a revolution in the genre, relying on careful study of the slightest details of the appearance of zombies. Minor chords slowly grow, the atmosphere of suffocating reality is so strong that the ending ceases to matter - the effect produced depends little on the mood. Howling and Ramke shamelessly play on the psychology of the viewer, fear for the fate of the baby permeates through. Properly calibrated frames and successfully similar angles allow you to almost physically feel the incipient stench from the decaying body. A hopeless person infected with a virus whose scale is only implied is like an irrational animal in which only a few instincts survive. Deadly diseases are dangerous panic and despair, and in the eyes of a little girl only natural fear, and therefore her infancy under such circumstances is perceived as good.
Countless horrors were created with the specific purpose of scaring the viewer, and for this all means are good. The seven-minute short film is frightening effectively, but its uniqueness is in the absence of the authors’ apparent desire to do so. Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke tried by all means to make their terrible sketch believable, and they succeeded. Cargo is able to crush the viewer and at the same time give him hope. Death and life coexist with each other, and we do not know who will take it. The father will die in any case, but his difficult path, full of courage, is not in vain.
9 out of 10
Among the short films often come across truly brilliant works. Such films, in which 5-15 minutes shows as much as even a good director will not show in his full meter with timekeeping in a couple of hours. It would seem like a simple idea, not quite professional execution, lack of budget, and as a result of good effects, and look – brilliant! The short film by Australian duo Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke “Cargo”, just from this category.
From the very first seconds, as soon as the focus is set up, we find ourselves at the scene of an accident in a city destroyed by a zombie virus. The car is shattered, the woman at the wheel turned into a zombie, the main character with a bite on his arm, and in the back seat a frightened little daughter. Realizing that he has enough time left, the main character grabs a young daughter and in a hurry goes to the rescue point on the map. He does not think that in a few hours, maybe even minutes he will turn into a zombie, the main task is to save his little miracle!
For its 7 minutes, "Cargo" causes serious emotions in the viewer. As a young father, I experienced them three times more. Zombies, creatures that are driven only by hunger, and who are deprived of everything human – this is a very good background for displaying real human feelings, such as love and parental care. These feelings are in each of us, and the creators of “Cargo” easily bring them out, making the viewer feel emotional and worry about the small defenseless creature sitting behind the monster. The film masterfully combines landscapes and locations of a good zombie horror, and the locations of filming are really worthy, and the sensitivity of melodrama, which with a half-click punches the viewer into a tear.
In the address of "Cargo" was a lot of positive reviews, the film gained fans around the world, and also became the winner of several competitions. But most importantly, he was able to prove that for a good film is not important giant budget or famous actors. Much more important is an interesting idea, a competent approach, a soul and emotions that do not let go throughout the picture.
Since its inception in 1968, when the premiere of the landmark Night of the Living Dead took place, the genre of zombie horror was perceived exclusively as entertainment for older viewers. Indeed, the vast majority of films about the walking dead mainly focused on spectacular murders and bloody episodes, because of which especially impressionable viewers are instantly drawn to the toilet. Of course, the creators of these horror films tried to saturate their heroes with drama and depth of character, but in fact everything was reduced to ordinary template and really worried about the outcome of the tense situation was not necessary. In 2004, Zack Snyder made a real revolution in the genre, releasing his phenomenally successful Dawn of the Dead, in which not only the visual series triumphed, but also struck the detailed backbone of the main characters, each of whom was a bright personality with its obvious positive features and shortcomings. However, not every director can afford to combine the scale of the zombie apocalypse with authentic drama. But sometimes competent directing and conciseness of the story told compensates for any multimillion-dollar expenses. It is to such tapes can safely be attributed Australian short film "Cargo" 2013 release. This picture was filmed exactly for the next film festival of short films, which annually takes place in the homeland of the creators of “Gruz”, in Australia.
So, the plot of the film instantly throws us into a world affected by the infamous zombie virus. In the center of the plot is the father of the family (Andy Rhodoreda), who, together with his infant daughter and wife, went from the city to the Australian wilderness to survive the disaster. However, as a result of the incident, the family gets into an accident, and the hero’s wife turns into a zombie, along the way biting her husband in the arm. Clearly realizing that he has no chance of survival, the man undertakes to save the only one who will remain in this world after his death - a small daughter. Having taken all the necessary measures for her safety, the hero goes on a long journey to a certain village, where according to legend there are still living people who are able to take care of the baby. But will he get there before he becomes the dead? Will the people of tomorrow help an innocent girl who simply cannot stand up for herself? These questions will be answered by Cargo...
This short film was shot by a duet of Australian directors in the person of Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke. For the domestic audience, their names will not say anything, because all their activities take place exclusively in their homeland, and even in the genre of short films. The only familiar face in the credits is Andy Rhodoreda, who starred in 2011 in a good Australian pseudo-documentary horror film Tunnel. The actor is no stranger to tragic plots, because his role in the “Cargo” became the main decoration of the project. His hero is quite verbose, but this does not prevent him from expressing his emotions quite clearly when he understands that his wife has turned into a monster and especially when he realizes that he himself does not have long, and the little daughter will remain completely alone. All his actions are aimed at the survival of the baby. And this dedication is not a fantasy like the whole world around the hero. This is quite credible behavior of a parent who is ready to lay down his life for the welfare of his child. Such stories are especially valuable in our far from ideal time, when people have forgotten what competent responsibility for their children is. Cargo shows us why we continue our species. Therefore, it will be especially useful to those future parents who decide to conceive only because of a significant social payment.
Since the budget for the short film is clearly small, you should not count on the grand scale of what is happening. However, the filmmakers managed to get a professional camera at their disposal, making their project even for a minute does not seem another marginal creation for a select audience. In addition, I want to note the high-quality work of makeup artists, who did not have to work on the appearance of hundreds of infected, but a couple of painted zombies was enough to compare the work of unknown specialists with the expensive efforts of their colleagues from the Walking Dead. Also, I can not but praise the well-chosen locations that we manage to notice in a short 7 minutes of timekeeping. the directors managed to show us a conquered car, an abandoned house, fields, forests and an impregnable watchbox. Agree that for such a modest production is a lot. As for the musical accompaniment from Helen Grimley, it perfectly emphasizes the drama of the situation, without breaking into cheap methods of intimidation with the help of a sharp drop in sounds.
Not every feature film can boast even one memorable moment, which shows the viewer the ingenuity of the main character. But "Cargo" is also remembered by me because of one extraordinary idea that came to mind the character of Andy Rodored. Perhaps in the movies about zombies, we have never seen such an extraordinary use of pieces of fresh meat, as it was shown in “Cargo”. I am not going to fully reveal the cards, because it is always better to get acquainted with this or that film. Well, "Cargo" with its modest duration and does not take you much time.
In the end, I want to say that "Cargo" is one of the best short films about zombies. And he has no problem keeping a good half of his full-length brethren in reserve. “Cargo” proved that a high-quality horror about the walking dead does not need a multi-million dollar budget. A good idea and a competent vision of the project - and success is guaranteed to you!
10 out of 10
It’s the first movie in years that knocked out a man’s tear. In just seven minutes. Or rather, in the last two minutes.
Although I suspect the reasons for this (dads of the same age, I hope they understand), children make people kinder and more sentimental.
But even if we try to discard all these snots, we see ... that we can not discard them. The whole message of the film is based on boundless and selfless love for their children.
Love God’s children and the world may change for the better.
The film opens with blurry footage of something pink, something green and something beige. Fans of the English-language Adobe package will call them dulled, remembering that the eponymous effect is used not only to obscure unnecessary details, but also to create some emotional intrigue. There is plenty of intrigue here: a kaleidoscope of color spots folds into greenery outside the car window, bloody spots on the shirt and a bitten human body. The other body, with white eyes and premature cadaver spots, pulls its clawed arms directly into the lens, showing all appearances of belonging to the class of the living dead. Welcome to the zombie apocalypse, gentlemen. First you see a dad who killed a dead mom, and now he’s trying to save his own little daughter from himself, and then he’s going to die. Then you will probably cry.
The popularity of films about global catastrophes is a topic for a separate psychological study, and it is possible that the main motivation for watching is a lightweight “fuhhh” in the finale with a secret smug thought: “Well, I will survive.” But the statistical superiority on the screens of the zombie population causes vague doubts: from the point of view of common sense, the invasion of the dead is no more real than, say, the capture of the planet by aqua-concerned aliens, reflective vampires or giant larvae of the tsokotuha fly. And to the question “why” the first answer seems to be the simplicity of implementation (remember “The Warmth of Our Bodies”: you need to make a terrible face, clumsily move and growl), the second is aesthetic unattractiveness (against the background of these slow freaks, the most common thing shines with the pure beauty of high matter), the third is the lack of sympathy (as a rule, zombies are not sorry, and therefore shooting them can turn into an entertainment attraction).
Having played well on the first, the creators tastefully modernized the second and third: the hero of the tape, a kind of delayed zombie, causes not just sympathy, but even some pride for our disappearing species; and circumstances excite a sincere concern for the fate of the cargo, because its value is axiomatic. What could be more important than saving a particular child in the abstract chaos of total destruction? For a better effect, the authors shamelessly resort to visual speculation, mounting fresh intestines in a bag with the appearance of a defenseless baby in a pink dress mandatory for girls. Her name is Rosie, the Rose of Peace, the link between the past and the future, the last hope of dying humanity in the face of the Last Judgment, whose hearing is moved to Earth, in the Australian outback. Somewhere out there, among the dancing grasses, a feat takes place, Homo Roditelus evolves into Homo Heroicus, and a gentle voice behind the scenes sings, sings about something unbearably beautiful.
If most see the genre of the picture as an arithmetic mean between horror and melodrama, then militant skeptics will call it a heartbreaking tear-crusher. And this is the main drawback of "Group": even forgetting that the idea is not new (albeit implemented by fundamentally new means, albeit indispensable as an anthem to good old humanistic ideals), it is difficult to get rid of the feeling that your honest spectator emotions are skillfully manipulated. The short film is so full of pathetics that if it was longer, a heart break would be inevitable. Ideally, the set of correct epithets for the review should contain “this is great”, “a wonderful story with deep meaning” and “Yaplakal”. But the message of the tape is so simple that there is a desire to translate it into a conditional test for sentimentality. If you cry, then you are a sensitive nature, if not - an insensitive moron, if you cry and get angry with yourself for this - congratulations, you have not forgotten how to think critically.